Romney falls short in Iowa

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney outspent and, he said, outworked his competition in Iowa, but still lost tonight's caucus vote to folksy rival Mike Huckabee.

The Associated Press, CNN and Fox News all projected early in the evening Huckabee would top Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, who spent huge amounts of money and time aiming for an Iowa victory and, along with it, an aura of inevitability.

With 86 percent of the vote tallied, Huckabee was leading with 34 percent to Romney's 25 percent, followed by Fred Thompson, 13 percent, and John McCain 13 percent. Ron Paul was running fifth with a strong 10 percent showing. Rudy Giuliani, who did not campaign hard in Iowa, was sixth with 3 percent.

Romney said he hoped Iowa would choose the candidate who would become the party's nominee, but even if they didn't he intended to be the Republican name on the November general election ballot.

"We have worked harder than any other candidates in this campaign. My team has and I have," Romney said from the auditorium stage, reminding voters of the many times he and his family had crisscrossed the state in the past year.

Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, who joined Romney campaigning in Iowa, said second place was a good showing.

"Iowa is a really hard place to read," Cannon said, especially with nearly half of the caucus-goers expected to have been evangelicals. But, the congressman said, he felt no antagonism in the audience of nearly 500 people he addressed at a caucus tonight on Romney's behalf in Newton, a town about 30 minutes east of Des Moines.

"I think people voted for somebody they liked, not against someone for reasons like religious prejudice," Cannon said.

Indeed, Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor once considered a near-fringe candidate, drew upon support from Iowa evangelicals and first-time caucus-goers to secure Thursday's win. There's little doubt that Huckabee's background as a Southern Baptist minister was an important selling point.

"I don't know too much about Mitt Romney," said first-time voter Mackenzie Stevens, 18. And Barb Wisnieski, a dietician, said she'd liked Romney at first but changed her mind when she heard he'd once supported abortion.

Now, Wisnieski said, she's for Huckabee. "That's one of the things that kind of swayed me. I'm a little leery about that," she said of Romney's switch to a pro-life position.